She was the sport’s pioneer, its best athlete and advocate, who gave everything for her cause.

Burke died Thursday morning at the University of Utah Hospital from injuries sustained in a training accident at Park City Mountain Resort. She was 29.

Her death sparked an outpouring of grief from the sports world and beyond.

“She’s in every snowflake, every ray of sunshine, every breeze. More than ever, now and always, I #BelieveInSarah,” tweeted Trennon Paynter, coach of the Canadian freestyle half pipe team.

Jennifer Heil, freestyle skiing moguls Olympic champion, said “she was a true leader in the way she pushed for women’s sport and the way she challenged herself and strived to be better.”

“I admire all of that. What I admire most is the way she did it. You never once saw her without that smile and her bubbly and positive attitude,” said Heil.

“I think it rubbed off on everybody. She lived with such passion and grace and it never ceased to inspire me. I really mean it. She lived so true to herself and did so much for sport and women in sport.”

Ski legend Nancy Greene-Raine said she was saddened by the news.

“I did not know Sarah, but really respect what she accomplished and the way she did it,” she said. “From everything I’ve heard and read, she was a great person and will be missed be not only her family and friends, but by women’s sports.”

Steve Podborski, a member of the famed Crazy Canucks who lived a good part of his skiing life on the edge, doesn’t see Sarah Burke’s death as a tragedy.

To him, the tragedy would have been if she didn’t try to explore her limits.

“Say you’re driving down the highway and you get killed in a car crash. People say ‘That’s too bad,’” said Podborski. “But when you’re doing something that you love at the level that Sarah was killed doing, people say ‘That’s a tragedy.’ To me, they’ve got it precisely backwards.

“When you get killed doing something day to day, that’s when you’ve really lost your future opportunity, you never again will have the chance to be the best, to do something really special or unique.

“Sarah was someone who could do something that others couldn’t. So, she was out in that superpipe trying to be better tomorrow than she was today. She was trying to be the best in the world and win an Olympic gold medal for herself and her country. She paid too big a price. That’s sad. Let’s celebrate what she was and what could have been and not see it as a tragedy but grieve and mourn what she has lost.”

Burke fell on Jan. 10, on the same half-pipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury two years ago.

Witnesses said it didn’t look as bad as it turned out to be. After all, when she fell before she always got back up.

This time, Burke had ruptured a vertebral artery, one of four major arteries supplying blood to the brain, leading to a severe intracranial hemorrhage that caused her to go into cardiac arrest at the scene.

Emergency personnel administered CPR. She was placed on life support. A day later, the injured artery was repaired.

Yet the damage had been done. Following the operation, it became obvious she had “severe irreversible damage” to her brain, a result of the lack of oxygen and blood after the cardiac arrest.

“Sarah passed away peacefully surrounded by those she loved,” wrote Iris Yen, vice-president of communications and public relations at Quiksilver, in a press release Thursday afternoon.

The website was organized by her agent, Michael Spencer and has marked a goal for $550,000. Her husband Rory Bushfield, a fellow skier from Alberta whom she married in 2010, is listed as the beneficiary.

“Sarah did so much for females and winter sports during her time with us; now we are asking for your help,” the site’s opening page reads.

“Sarah leaves behind her beloved husband Rory, loving parents Jan and Gordon and her supportive sister Anna. Please consider helping them cover the enormous cost of Sarah’s recent medical care and to provide for other arrangements by donating. Your support in their greatest time of need will be gratefully appreciated and forever remembered.”

The family says a celebration of her life will be held in the coming weeks.

Burke leaves a rich legacy. She tried many of the toughest tricks and was the first woman to land a 1080 — three full revolutions — in competition.

Before the accident, she was favoured to win more X Games gold (she was a four-time champion).

An outspoken activist for her sport, Burke’s talents weren’t confined to the hills.

She lobbied to add super-pipe skiing to the Olympic program, using the argument that no new infrastructure would be needed — the pipe was already built — and the Olympics could get twice the bang for their buck.

Perhaps predictably, she won over the bigwigs. The discipline will debut at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

The daughter of ski racers, Burke was born in Barrie, Ont., but grew up in Midland.

John Faragher, Burke’s former teacher at Midland Secondary School, said that even then, young Sarah was a trailblazer.

“The school took trips to Mount St. Louis for recreational ski days,” he wrote in an email to the Star, “and Sarah spent most of the day in the terrain park to the amazement of all who watched her.”

Though she moved to Squamish, B.C., Faragher says Burke never forgot her roots. “Many of her closest friends are former students from her high school days which is a testament to her values and well grounded nature,” he wrote.

Steve Omischl, four-time World Cup aerials champion, is devastated. “The entire freestyle community is pretty messed up right now,” he said.

“She was just someone so larger than life. It’s very hard to imagine she’s not with us anymore,” said Peter Judge, CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association. “You’re obviously left without words and with significant emotion.”

At least one of her fellow athletes questioned whether the sport was worth it.

Warren Shouldice, world freestyle aerials champion, is currently sidelined with a concussion; a decade ago he recovered from a broken neck.

“There’s certain risks that are inevitable. You just hope the unspeakable doesn’t happen to you,” said Shouldice.

“The thing is, Sarah was more qualified to do what she was doing than anyone,” he said. “It’s terrible. It’s really hard. It’s probably going to be hard to go back up there and jump.”

With files from the Associated Press

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